Game practice means



June 18, 1935. l. ROBINSON GAME PRACTICE MEANS Filed Oct; 15, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEYS June 18, 1935. c. l. ROBINSON GAME PRACTICE MEANS Filed oct. 15, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jen/ice Line Ban Line Caf! I. Robinson INVENTOR m,

ATTORNEYS Patented June 18,V 1935 j UNITED [STATES GAME .PRACTICE MEANS Carl FI. Robinson, Chicago, Ill.

l Application October 15,

5 Claims.

Thisinvention relates toimprovements ingame practice means. v.

An object of the invention is to provide means whereby the rebound of a. ball from a Verticalsur- :-5 .face against which :it is projected will be indicated thereon or on a .horizontal fore :eld or foreground :so that the player can determine whether the ball would have alighted within predetermined boundaries had its flight vbeen `uninterruptedlby the vertical surface. 'I'he principles of the present improvementsicanbest be described ,by reference to means forpracticing the game 4of 'lawn :tennis and embodiments of my game'practice means adapted forpracticingasuch game lare selected for .illustrating the invention. Thus, in ythe employment of my inventionfor practicing the lplaying of tennis, the practice means enables 'the player .to practice from service positions, .xed volley postions, and catch-.ascatch-can .positions vgoverned :by the rebound of the .ball when projected against a vertical :ball returning member.

Certain advantages .of the y'principle :of the-inventon 'can 'be .obtainedby fthe `utilization' only of a vertical .ball returning surfaceoccupying the plane 'of a tennis net, which surface Ais .provided with horizontally dened zones l'into anynone .of which-a ball, if driven .withless than la 4pre-'determined velocity, will be fair, that iis, .such :ball inactuallplay wouldhave alightedwithinthe rear limits of a court. Such a vertical 'surface 'hav- -ing the described horizontal Azones may also be employed in connection with aforegroundhaving transverse vzonesr so .correlated vwith respect to the other Zones that' the .rebound of ithe iball will yindicate whether `the Avelocity of :the ball was :such that in actual play it would have fallen within yor without the end or side limits .of a. court.

'Another object 1of* Athe .invention is Fto provide either or both foregroundsand bounding or zball return fsurfaces .with suitable *boundary4 or 'zone markings Aor other iindici'a to assist the player fin 1 noting .the :accuracy with which fhe :hits fthe ball withirespect to thehe'ight ior :its direction toward `...anyl desired area, :such as a particular portion "of .a tennis court. f

Other objects :relate to various features .of `arrangement of/details :which will be apparent .from a. consideration :of the following .specication and accompanyingidrawings wherein:

Figure .l fissaadiagrammat'ic sidewiew-of atennis courtsuitably vmofliiecl forthe purposes of ,illus- `:trating the4 principles of :my invention.`

Figure Zfis 'a topiplan view thereof.' i LFiguref is .a A:perspective View .,illustratinga 1932, Serial No. 638,020 d (Cl. 273#-29) foreground of reduced -'dimensions in conjunction with .a .ball return surface, .beyond which .in `dotted ,lines is shownvthe opposite portion .of .anactua'l court.

Figure 4 is a perspective viewof practicemeans showing .the foreground and the ball return V.su-rface pro-vided with transverse zones for noting the height at which a ball strikes said surfaceandits rebound therefrom to the foreground.

Figure 5 is a View of a practice device for use in practicing the placing of .aball at or adjacent Aa,

vcertain.designated :portion of an imaginary court.

Figure 6 is an enlarged view of one form .of -chart for usevvitli `vthe practice means :shown-:in Figure 5. f t

Figure 7 :is ,a ,broken elevation of form of ball ,return surface. y l

In Figure 1 of the drawings, tennis Acourt .sections .Hi .and `il are shown -in side :elevation provided with a knet I2.

a modified If a player .serves a `ball from the point A which would have the course of the .line Bv and Lstrike the court rlll-atpoint1C, a :bounding board, rorqother verticall "ball return ,surface 4I3placed in the .plane of the net, will return the ballr along the ydotted line D Itothe point vE on the court |.I. If the point C is Within Ythe `service area of court lli, `it will beapparent `,that fthecourt H can be sodimensioned and arranged that the point vE Willbe in the same .relative position Ain court. Il lthat pointCis in court l0. .Since ythe ball in tstrikingthe board or vsurface i3 `will Vnot rebound as far into'court Vil as it would have gone had its flight *beenk not intercepted, the

court H `may be foreshortened so .as -to vindicate' -to a player who drives the ball against ,such 'ball i return surface jthe position at which the ball would have alightedina court .ill inactual play.`

Thus, for example, ,inv Figures .l and 2 the court .is shown foreshortenedlongitudinally :approximately 19%, and transversely about. 8% with reference to court l0. Line :F indicates another courseof a ballrfrom the same pointA to landing pointG lwhile dotted `Enel-l shows the pathrof rebound vfrom the surface vi3 'to the point I of court JI l. v f t i In Figure y2 I have shown a board or surface L3 having an imaginary court l0 on vone side .anda foreshortened courtvor foreground -l l on the side lon which the player stands. If theplayer .serves the ball from the point J and vits course inactual ,play would be that yindicated `bygtheline Kandits.

, the vertical lines I4,

V since if it strikes too high or 'above the net, the ball on :lines I4, the foreground II. Vplished if such vboundary lines are formed by rmeans of tapes suspended from the upper portion 'shifting the foreground sheet of canvas or the like detachably secured to va floor. l

relative position in the foreground II as point L bears to the imaginary court II).

In Figure 3 a perspective view of this arrangement is illustrated, the actual foreground II being shown in connection with a vertical return surface I3 which may be the wall of a room or any other suitable structure. The lower portion of the surface I3 has been provided with the representation of a net i2 or it may be indicated merely by `a horizontal line indicating the upper limit of a net. `If a player wishes to practice serving he may take any conventional serving position, such as the serving position marked J. To serve the ball against the surface I 3 so that the ball would land within lateral limits of an actual court, the ball must strike the surface I3 between I5, whichmay be painted on the surface I3 or on 'a sheet of material, such as canvas for example, secured to the surface I3. The player will know that his ball must strike the f surfacel3 within the lines I4, I5 if it in actual .play would have been a fair serve. It may strike I4, I5 and not be a good serve is too swift, or is too close to the line or margin I5 at a point well its rebound will not fall within the service area IIa, of the court II andthe player Will thus know that such serve in actual play would not have been within the prewithm the lines scribed limits.

For practicing serving from other points, the I5 must be changed with reference to This may easily be accomof the ball return surface or are made Von a sheet of material removably secured to the surface I3. The same result may be accomplished also by II if it be formed of a The foregoing description'showing the relation `of a foreshortened foreground to an imaginary 'opposite court with an interposed ball return surface explains the principle of the invention. To

Aobtain advantage of practice by the use of a return surface and foreground, it is not necessary *that the foreground be marked oif in simulation of a tennis court. The principle of 'my improve- `ment can be utilized by the arrangement shown in Figure 4, Whereinthe vertical ball return surface IB is provided with defined horizontal zones and the foregroundV I1 is provided also with correlative zones. In this figure the zones ofthe return surface are numbered and 'lettered as shown, while the zones of the foreground are lettered. The returnsurface has vertical limit lines I8, I8 between which a ball must strike to 'fall within the lateral limits of the above mentioned imaginary court, or of an actual court in actual play. If a ball strikes the space or zone -marked 3 on the surface I6, and on bounding to `the foreground strikes any place between the base of said surface and the rear limit of zone D of the foreground, he will know that said ball in actual yplay would have landed within the end boundary of his opponents court. The letters on `the 'surface refer to the letters on the foreground "70 f' by such corresponding letter was driven too hard and a ball that rebounds beyond a zone identified with reference to' its height above the net to alight` within the end limit of an actual court. Other systems of correlating the two sets of graduation may be employed, thus the numeral `of the surface I6 may be omitted ornumerals used only on both the return surface and the foreground.

A vertical ball return surface such as the surface I6 shown in Figure 4 may be used for certain practice also without the foreground. Thus, the ball return surface may be provided with horizontally defined zones which serve to register the height of the ball. If a player knows that a ball of maximum velocity must strike the lower-most `zone to alight within his opponents court in actual play, he can utilize such a ball return surface for measuring the height of the ball and thus by practice become proficient in keeping the fast balls low but above the net. Similarly, a ball which strikes in a higher zone must be a slower ball to be fair in an opponents court, while a ball which strikes in the uppermost zone must be of minimum velocity. Thus a player can practice driving the ball at various velocities and by noting the zone at which a ball is intercepted by the return surface, can determine the maximum ,height which a ball of a given velocity may have as it passes over a net in actual play. By this method of practice, the player can measure the flight or gauge the ultimate objective of the ball with reference to the end or side limits of an actual court.

In Figure 5 the foreground I9 and the vertical return surface 20 are provided with the designated correlative areas shown. In the use of this arrangement the player may refer to the chart 2I shown in Figure 6, which in actual practice may be placed at any convenient position, as on the vertical surface as illustrated in Figure 5. This chart represents a court marked oif in numbered rectangles. Suppose a, player wishes to practice driving a ball into any of the areas of his opponents court designated on the chart. For example, if a ball strikes the designated area 31 of the return surface, having been served along the dotted line 22 from the' service position 23, its path on the rebound may be along the dotted line 24. The distance it rebounds from the area 31 will be dependent on its velocity, and hence if the ball 'alights in one of the foreshortened areas in the foreground, which bears a number or legend corresponding toan area of the chart which lies within the service court, the player will know that the serve would have been within the prescribed limits in actual play. Thus a ball rebounding from the area 31 of the ball return surface into any of the areas 98, 90, 82, 14, 66, 58 or 50 of the foreground, is found by reference to the chart of Figure 6, to be within the limits of the service court. It will be seen that the projection 25 of the line 22 passes through similarly designated areas on the imaginary half court 26, such projection 25 indicating the course the particular ball would have taken in actual play.

The areas of the ball return surface may have thereon, in addition to the identifying numeral of each particular area, indicia indicating the areas of the foreground within which a ball must 4 to strike the area 31 of the return surface 20 and to rebound along the line 29. The lines 24 and 29 indicate that the balls were driven with the maximum velocity possible to alight within the respective limits of the court.

By the use of differently correlated foregrounds and ball return surfaces or charts, practice fromA other positions is possible, the player being able to note the accuracy of his serves or volley returns both as to direction and velocity.

If desired, the foreground may be provided with a service line 30 and a base line 3l for indicating the rear limits of the court for service and volley play respectively. It may also be provided With the dash lines 32, 33 and 34 Which indicate lateral limits of the service courts.

From the above descriptionit will be seen that by means of the present improvements the player can practice the various shots from different positions and at various speeds and by reference to the ball return surface, or the foreground or to both, can determine Whether theball would have alighted Within prescribed limits in actual play.

Further modification ofthe markings or graduations or zones of either or both the return surface and foreground may be made in accordance with the principles of my invention for practicing unusual serves or returns, but the above described embodiments will serve to illustrate the present improvements since they are capable of use with the serves or returns commonly used in ordinary play, including hooked or curved balls.

The ball return surfaces and foregrounds above described may be made directly on suitable walls or oors, or if theyare made on sheets of material, such as canvas, they will preferably be detachably connected to the respective areas by any appropriate means, such as by eyelets 35 shown in Figure 4 for the purpose of illustration only.

Other modifications and refinements of the improvements herein disclosed may suggest themy selves to those skilled in the art such as, for example, adjusting a removable foreground to` ward or away from the ball return surface when balls are employed having lesser or greater resilience or rebounding characteristics than an average ball for use with which the spacings of the zones of the foreground were designed, but it will be understood that the above disclosures have been selected for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention and I, therefore, do not Wish to' be restricted to the specific embodiments of the invention above described except as so limited by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. Tennis practice means comprising a vertical ball returning surface corresponding in position to the plane of a tennis net and against which a ball may be projected, said surface having vertical boundary markings thereon for indicating the side limits of an imaginary full size conventional be projected, a foreground upon which said ball* rebounds from said vertical surface, indicia onl said surface for indicating particular areas of an imaginary court at the rear side of'said surface,

vand indicia on such foreground for indicating positions Where a ball rebounding to the same from said surface would have alighted with ref-y erence to any such area in actual play.

3. Tennis practice means comprising a vertical ball-intercepting surface corresponding in position to the plane of a tennis net and having a plurality of dened rectangular areas thereon, a horizontal foreground having rectangular areas defined thereon, and indicia forl correlating the areas of said surface and foreground for determining the objective of a driven ball with respect to an actual court when the ball strikes Within one ofv said areas of said surface and rebounds therefrom to one of said areas of said foreground. 4. Tennis practice means comprising two removable sheets having defined zones thereon, one adapted for attachment to a vertical Wall corresponding in position to the plane of a net and the other to a horizontal foreground in front of said Wall whereby the objective of a ball driven against said vertical sheet and rebounding to said horizontal sheet can be determined With respect to prescribed limits of an actual court.

5. Tennis practice means 'comprising a vertical ball returning surface corresponding'in position to the plane of a tennis net and against which a ball may be driven, a foreeld upon which a ball may rebound from said surface and rebound in turn from said foreiield to enable the same again to be driven against said surface as in conventional play, and markings on said fore' field defining tennis court areas foreshortened in Width and length for indicating Whether a ball rebounding thereto from said surface would have alighted Within prescribed limits inactual play.

CARL I. ROBINSON. 

